Additional Quotes >> USA 116, Puerto Rico 36

July 25, 2008 - Buenos Aires, Argentina

USA head coach Carol Owens
On the game:
I thought our kids did a great job of executing our offense tonight and playing at our level. Puerto Rico played a lot of zone defense, but we obviously handled it well. I still think we need to shoot better from the free throw line, but the girls did a good job of staying focused despite the score.

Coming into tonight's game I wanted us to be more efficient in taking care of the ball and crashing the glass, so we set a goal of no more than 18 turnovers and at least 20 offensive boards, and we accomplished that. I think because we had goals, we were able to stay focused throughout and the team maintained its intensity.

On Brazil:
I expect a fast-paced game against Brazil. They like to score in transition, and that's a big part of their offense. We have to be able to contain their transition game. They have some big guards and some big post players, so we really need to be ready to defend.

Sarah Boothe
On the game:
I was frustrated because I have been taking myself out of games with foul trouble. Today I was able to stay straight up and help my team get the win, and that was a relief. I got my rythym back.

We accomplished our goals tonight as far as turnovers and rebounding, but we need to continue to push ourselves. We want to cut our turnovers down even further and crash the boards even harder in our next two games. We want to go undefeated, and those things will be a big part of that.

Alyssia Brewer
On the game:
We did a good job doing the small things tonight, gettting up and down the court and hitting he floor after loose balls. We moved the ball well and found the open people. It can be hard to stay intense for 40 minutes when you are up by so many points, but I thought we did that tonight.

Eleven of us played against most of the Brazillian team last year at the Youth Development Festival. They have gotten better, and we have gotten better. Now it's just who wants it more.

Ashley Corral
On the game:
Our inside-out game really worked well tonight, and we were knocking down shots when the posts kicked the ball out. The scoreboard wasn't really the issue, it was our team goals that we were really focused on going after, and we made progress. We turned the ball over half as much as we used to and we double our rebounds. I think we got a lot better.

I'm excited to face Brazil tomorrow. They are a really good team, and they have a lot of size like us.

Skylar Diggins
On the game:
We just did a good job of following directions from our coaches tonight, and we worked on a lot of things for our game against Brazil tomorrow. We all want to win gold, and we need to stay focused if we want to do that. That was our motivation to stay intense.

Tomorrow will be a good game. We're both competitive, and they have some big girls and quick guards. That would be a huge win and just one step closer to undefeated gold.

Lynetta Kizer
On the game:
We were getting rebounds and running the court well tonight. Everybody gets a chance to score when you run the court, so we all did that and everybody was involved. We focused on the stuff that Coach Owens wanted, not the scoreboard, because teams are only going to get better in the next two games and we need to improve also.

Joslyn Tinkle
On the game:
We knew we had a size advantage coming into tonight's game, so for me personally, I just wanted to run the floor. I saw that Puerto Rico was getting tired, so I just pushed myself to run harder and get back on defense. I tried to use my size and height advantage to go up strong.

It can be hard to stay focused when we are up so big, but that is one of the things we are working on -- staying focused no matter who we are playing. We tried to work on stuff that will help us in the future and make our whole team better.

On Brazil:
Brazil is a good team. They are tough, and they have some big girls. We are chomping at the bit because we want to get to that Sunday night game against the home team. But we have to take it one game at a time, and thye are our next opponent. I think we are ready.